Game apparatus



Get. 30 1923.

L. S. SCHER GAME APPARATUS Filed Jan. 22, 1925 lll Louis s. sonne, or new vonk, 1v. Y.

Garan nrraiinrns;

Application ined January s2, 1923. 'serial Naslaesfe.

To zZZ whom t may concem.'

Be it known that I, Louis S. Soi-Inn, a' citizen ofthe United States, and resident of borough of the Bronx, county of Bronx, and State of New York7 Vhave invented cerf tain new and useful improvements in Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification. y

The invention 4relates to game apparat-us and more particularly' to devices for playing a gaine of a novel and entertaining character in which the players attempt to Vlocate a hidden object. The game may be considered as one in which buried treasure is being searched for, or in whiohthe locationof hidden water, or oil, ora mineral, or thelike is being searched for,` as .is done in the case of water, for example, witlra divining rod.

Inl accordance with the invention upper andy lower plane members-preferably in the nature of game Aboards `are provided between which the object lor objects, the location of which is to be determined, be positioned. Oneplayer having positioned the object which represents 4 the hidden treasure.

or the like at any desired pointen the surf face of the lower member, and covered" the same with the upper member, another player i proceeds to move a "flinder" member above' the upper board in an' effort to determine the location kof the concealed object, The concealed object andthe"tlnd'er member .are of such a nature that thefnder will give some indication when it is brought into 'the Vproximity ofthe hiddenmember.v Thus, in

the preferredl form of the invention, the

hidden member which may representa buried treasure, for eXaInple, maytake the form of a small magnet, while ,the finder member may talrethe form yof a piece lof vmagnetic material which preferably 1s freely suspended from the hand of the player, and which isv moved through the air abovetlre cover member until itVA is brought into prox'- imity tothe positon of the magnet, whereupon the inderV will Vbe'a'ttracted and point Vto orother'wise indicate the position of the magnet. i

In the lpreferred form of the invention two personsor fother plurality of persons play theigame Latthe same time, each searching for the' location. of the member hidden; that is positioned :between Vthe',flipper. and

lower game boards,by tlie other,l or another player, the player who firstco'rrectly locates the position of the object vfor which he is seeking scoring a point, or otherwise securing an advantage. In the'preferried form of the invention, also,1the' upper and lower members are similar in shape, marking, etc., and vare removably positioned 'one on the other in alignment, the upper 'Y VandY lower members having longitudinal andV transverse lines properly designated, or being otherwise provided with designating means, sorth'alt the position ofthe finder may be accurately designated asy the intersection of a particular pair 'of lines, while the liitldenmagnet-Yor article to be found will be positionedV at .or

adjacent to the samef' intersection ori the" lower board, if 'the' manipulationfof the finder has been correctlyconducted.

An object of the invention isjthe provision' of improved game apparatus ofthe character above referred to. Other' objects of the invention comprises the provision of'improved combinations of Aparts and details of con'` struction, all as will be more'fully pointed out hereinafter and particularlyl claimed' in the appended claims.

In order that therinvention maybe vvmore clearly understood, attention i'sHhereby'directed to the accompanying drawings form'- ing part of this applieationand illustrating one form ofthe invention. yIn" the drawings* i i i j 'F ig. l represents a perspective View of an apparatus comprising one form ofthe i'nvention,` certain' parts being' broken awayto indicate the underlying parts; i' Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a po-rtion of the apparatus,` the cover member being broken awayto indicate the lower gaine board or member with' a magnet positioned thereon; A

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of' one form oty l finder device, and l e Y l l, Y Fig. 4 is atop plan view of thesamewith the suspending cords omitted."

Referring to thedrawingathe lower mem? ber Cream@ board@ andthe @perfor @Ver member 2 are preferably ex'actlyfalilre" inV size and shape, so that they mayv bejexactly aligned. They may be removably' held inv alignment by any suitable means, thel pre` ferred means taking the'form' 'of a shallow box havinga marginalflan'ge The' game apparatus including upper and' lower members vorboards l and'2'pmay bekeptfinl this box` when out of ,use,'fand the:V boX will also serve as an aligning means for the upper and lower niembers`,"as sta-ted,y by

f the boards, as is indicated at 6.

shaping these members to fit closely within the marginal flange 3 of the box.

The member 2 is preferably, but not necessarily, formed of two similar portions 21, 21, which are hinged together, along a line indicated at l intermediate tbe two ends of the boards. Members 1 and 2 may be formed of cardboard or the like, and the hinge of the upper member, indicated at Ll, may be formed in any suitable way, as by connectin(T the opposite endportions 21of the upper board by a pliable tape, or the like. v

rlhe upper and lower members 1 and 2 are similarly marked with indicia by which the locations of various points thereon may be accurately designated. Thus, both members may be provided with longitudinal lines in dicatcdby thenumeral 5, which lines are sutably designated as by the numerals 1 to 21, or whatever 'the number of these lines actually used happens to be, these indicating numerals being printed at the ends of The boards are also provided with transverse rulings indicated at 7, which may suitably be indicated by a sufficient number of the letters of the alphabet printed at trieV opposite edges, as is indicated at 8. Oi', if desired, the crossing` lines may be indicated as degrees and minutes of longitude and vlatitude,adding a. further; element educational interest to th'egame. Y

Preferably, also, each board has a suitable map printed thereon, such as a map of a fanciful treasure island, on which treas ure may beconceived to be buried, the inap being identical on both boards.

The articles to be hidden and searched for are represented in the form of invention indicated in the drawings by illustrations of treasure chests, or the like, carried by the small permanent magnets 9, which are represented as small horseshoe magnets. Tlies may be of the usual type but some me s should be provided for Vindicating the center of magnetic attraction of each magnet. ln the case ofV a small permanent horse shoe magnet this point will lic half way betwee14 the legs or poles of the magnet short distance bach from the ends. be indicated by marking lines across the legs or poles of the magnet in alignment withY such point.

Preferably, however, l secure a small sheet of non-magnetic material across the ends of the. legs of the magnet, and provide an opening` 11 therethrough at the center of magnetic attraction. The sheet of materialY 10 maybe formed of any suitable non-magnetic material, such as paper, or sheet brass. Y

When the game is to be played a pair of players may sit at opposite ends of the box each of them being provided with a magnet to'be hidden away and searched for by his' opponent. The players raise the portions 21 This point iii-.ry Y

of the cover beard into theirupper positions as shown in dotted lines in Figl, the porA tions 21 swinging upwardly about hinge Al. Each player then positions his magnet atany desired poi'nt on the lower board, this operation being screened from the view of his opponent by the raised cover portion 21. rlhe player at the left may so place his magnet, secretly, that the opening 11 therein will exactly orerlie the intersection of the lines 8 and C, as is indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, while the other magnet may be positioned with its opening 11 at the intersection of lines and Q, as is indicated in dotted lines at the right of Fig. 1.

rThe cover sections 21 being lowered, the magnets will be entirely hidden and the upper and lower boards will be alignedwith each other, so that the position-designating cross lines on each will be in alignment..

The position of the board is now reversed, or the players exchange places, so that each can search for the magnet hidden by the other. n y Y This is done by means of what l term finder members, preferably devices comprising magnetizable metal, so arranged to indicate or point towards the position of a magnet when properly manipulated. Preferably each finder comprises a small discv12` which may be freely suspended in horizon-` tal position by flexible cords 13 secured through openings V14 equally spaced about the periphery of the disc, four such openings being shown in the drawing. These cords are secured together by a lrnotl` at equal distances from the openings 1d and a single cord 16 extends upwardly therefrom which may be held between a thumb and linger of the player. Other forms of linder may of course be used. y

The device so arranged will, of course, be freely rotatable. The disc may be given the effect of a point-er by marking an arrow 17 thereon and arranging a sufficient mass of magnctizablemetal at the point of the arrow. The disc 12 may suitably be forme-d of cardboard or the like with a small sheet of. magnetizable metal 1S secured to the under? side thereof, as is indicated in dotted linesV at 18 in Fig. l. rlhe arrow 17 is so arranged that the end of its head will overlie the center of the small sheet of metal 18. The disc y 12 may, of course, be reinforced by a margina! rim of any suitable'thin sheet metal, 'or other material.r A piece of non-magnetic material 181 may be secured to the disc at the opposite end of the arrow, to balance piecel 18. i

When such a device is suspended above a magnet the magnetic attraction will, of course, serve to turn thedisc until the pointer or head4 ofthe arrow 17 is above the effective center of the magnet.

This effect willV also take place when the magnet is posi! tioned beneath the Lipper member 2, the latter being formed of cardboard or the like, which is not too thick to prevent this eiect.

Each player, therefore, holding his iinder member by the ,cord 16 moves Ythe same through the air slightly above the surface of the cover member until the neighborhood of the concealed magnet is indicated by a turning of the disc 12. By moving the finder slightly Vin one direction or the other the location of the concealed magnet may quite accurately be determined. l/Vhen the operation has been accurately performed the pointing end of the arrow 1T will lie quite exactly above the Vopening' 1l of the strip l on the concealed magnet, as is indicated at the right hand side ofFig. l.y

' In playing the game theopposing players are, of course, each trying Yto locate a buried treasure before the other locates his buried treasure, When, therefore, one player considers that he has found the desired location he announces the fact and the game is temporarily stopped. He then notes the point indicated by his finder, such as the intersection of lines 8 and C, and the portion 21 of the cover member covering'the concealed magnet is raised and the position of the magnet on the lower board noted by both players. lf the finding operation has been accurate the central opening 1l of the magnet will be found located at or closely adjacent to the intersection of lines S and C, on the lower board, in which case the player scores one point. If, however, he has made an error and the point ll of the magnet is not located at the intersection, or within the square announced by him, one, or any other desired number, is taken from his score, so that accuracy is a necessary attribute of the successful player, as well as quickness. It is found that with reasonable speed a good player may locate the hidden magnet quite accurately about three times out of four. The winner may be considered the 'player who irst scores a desired number of points. Y

lt will be understood that the invention is not limited strictly to the details of con-V struction which have been described with particularity, but that all reasonable variations and modiiications` are included within the scope of the invention, as is indicated by the accompanying claims. Grenerall).T speaking, the concealed article and the finder member are of such-character that the movement of the finder into the near proximity of the concealed article will cause a pointing of the finder to the position of the concealed article or will cause some other form of indication to be given by the finder when the same is correctly positioned above the position of the concealed article.

t willalso be noted that it is not essential that the magnet should be the hidden member and the armature for the magnet should be the finder member, since these two members vmay, of course, be interchanged, both the hidden member andthefinder mem,-

.ber being of magnetizable'material, one of they same, either the finder,Y member or the hidden member, being permanently magnetized. The nder membermay, for eX- Vmagnetic, covermember having similar designating means, adapted to be positioned on said i'st member in alinement therewith, a magnet adapted to be placed at any Ydesired peint on Asaid first member and covered by said cover member, and a member adapted to be attracted by. said magnet, adapted tobe moved by a. player above` said cover member in an effortV to locate the position', of said magnet.

2. AIn game'apparatus, the combination of a non-magnetic member the surface of which is Vprovided with means for designating various points or portions thereof, a non-magnetic cover member having similar designating means, adapted to be positioned on said first member in alinement therewith, and having" portions thereof hinged together, so that one of the same may be swung` upwardly about its hinge when the' cover member is` positioned on said iirst member, a magnet adapted to be Vplaced as desired on said first member, when said cover portion is raised, and covered by said cover portion when the latte-r is again lowi ered, and a magnetic finder member adapted to be moved by a player abovesaid cover member in an effort to locate theV position of said magnet. i

3. In game apparatus, the combination of a game' board, a cover member-adapted to be superposed thereon in alignment therewith, vsaid board and cover lmember being. marked with similarY indicia, similarlyplaced, an article to be searched for, adapt-l .l

ed to be placed at any'desired point on said board and covered bysaid cover member,'

and al finder member, adapted to be moved by a player above said cover member ingari eifort to locate the position of said'article,

said finder member being adapted to indicate the position of said article ,when moved adjacent thereto abo-ve said cover member. v Y

4. In a game apparatus, the combination of upper and lower plane members of equal size, both similarly marked with crossing lines so designated as to enable any point on either member 'to be located with relation to said lines, and means for removably holding said members in alinement, one oncthe other7 said members being adapted to have a 'dat object, the locationV 0I" whieh is to be determined, positioned between them.

In game apparatus, the combi-nation er upper and size,v both similarly marked with crossing lin s so designated as to enable any point on either member to be located with relation to said lines, and means for removably holding said members in alinement, one on the other, said upper member being hinged intermediate its ends, so that either end port-ion may be swung upwardly to screen the secret placing of a flat object, the location of which is to be determined, between the same and the lower member.

G. n game apparatus, the combination of upper and lower plane members of equal size7 both similarly marked with crossing lines so designated as to enable any point on either member to be .loated with relation to said lines, a box in which said members removably tit, adapted to hold the same in alinement, one on the other7 a. megnetizable member adapted to be positioned between said upper and lower members, and a maglower plane members of equal` germes netizable finder member adapted to be moved by a player above said upper member in an effort to loca-te the'position ot said hidden magnetizablemember, one of said inagnetizable members being charged with magnetism.

7. In game apparatus, the combination of a non-magnetic member, the surf-eee ol which is provided with means for'd'esign'ating various points or portions thereo't',"a non-magnetic corel' member haring similar designatingmeans, adapted to be positioned on saidY first member in alinement therewith, a magnetiZa-ble member adapted to be placed at any desired pointon said Vfirst member and covered by said cover member, and a magnetizable finder member adapted to be moved by a player above said cover member Vin an eHort to locate the position of said firstnamed magnetizable membeigone of said two named magnetizable members ibeing permanently charged with magnetism.

ln testimony whereof I have sig-ned my name to this specification.

LOUIS S. SCHER. 

